Technology conglomerate Google has chosen 24 start-ups from developing markets around the world, including Nigeria, out of thousands of applications to participate in a two-week boot camp to take their business to the global stage.
In its fifth year, Google Launchpad Accelerator is taking place in San Francisco this week. It focuses on start-ups that already have a product, with a good market fit, and are ready to scale.
During the intensive two weeks at Google’s offices, start-ups are exposed to expert professionals and mentors in the technology and business space, as well as take part in workshops on machine learning and artificial intelligence.
The programme is tailored to each start-up specifically. When they are accepted into the initiative, their problems are assessed and they are paired with the mentor who has the best skill set to help them when they get to San Francisco.
After the boot camp, the start-ups will take part remotely in a six-month mentorship programme.
This year, there are three start-ups from Africa: Aerobotics from SA, as well as Helium Health and OneFi from Nigeria.
Cape Town-based Aerobotics helps farmers optimise their yields and reduce costs through its aerial data analytics platform, which combines on-the-ground and satellite data with footage from drones.
Helium Health provides smart, rugged, all-in-one electronic medical records for Africa, and OneFi has created Paylater, an online provider of digital financial services for the underbanked in West Africa.
There are two companies with $1 billion evaluations taking part in the accelerator. Roy Glasberg, global lead for Google Developers Launchpad, says this is the first time any accelerator in the world has taken on such large start-ups.
Both ‘unicorns’ are based in Brazil. Nubank is a financial technology company offering a fully digital and branchless experience, and Viva Real is an online real estate marketplace that connects buyers, sellers and renters with properties in Brazil. There is one other Brazilian start-up, Loggi, which creates new-wave logistics.
Other participating South American start-ups include Etermax, a creator of social gaming apps, and Restorando, a dining-out marketplace, from Argentina. There is also Clip, a service that allows users to accept payments with any credit or debit card, at anytime and anywhere, and Kubo.financiero, a P2P lending platform, from Mexico.
Central and Eastern Europe start-ups taking part are Synetiq from Hungary, Szopi from Poland, and App in the Air and Voximplant from Russia.
Synetiq uses machine learning and biometric emotional insights to help brands and media producers create high-performing video adverts. Szopi offers a same-day delivery platform for groceries and pharmaceuticals. App in the Air is a personal travel assistant for flight tracking and exploring airports, and Voximplant offers a versatile cloud communications platform.
India has one of the largest contingents, with four start-ups: BabyChakra, m.Paani, NIRAMAI and SocialCops.
BabyChakra is an app that helps Indian parents from pregnancy to parenting. m.Paani provides businesses with real-time consumer insights. NIRAMAI has developed a breast cancer screening solution that detects cancer at an early stage. SocialCops empowers organisations to make better decisions through data.